


Very Loud Fun

by imaginarycircus



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Gen, based on a JKR tweet, chosen family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-11
Updated: 2016-01-11
Packaged: 2018-05-13 07:24:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5699953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imaginarycircus/pseuds/imaginarycircus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Teddy Lupin (Head Boy, Hufflepuff) is disappointed when James Potter is sorted into Gryffindor.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Very Loud Fun

**Author's Note:**

> based on a tweet from JKR and [originally posted on tumblr.](http://imaginarycircus.tumblr.com/post/128135570539/entertainmentweekly-jk-rowling-sorted-james)

Teddy crossed his fingers under the table when McGonagall placed the Sorting Hat on James. It was a testament to the excellent job that Harry and Ginny had done normalizing their children, that the only people who held their breath and leaned forward were the professors and Teddy.  _They waited…_

**the night before**

“It would be nice to have James in Hufflepuff,” Teddy said. 

Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny lingered at the dinner table with him like he was a real adult. The children had fled upstairs where it sounded like the sack of Rome was being reenacted. 

“Teddy, I wouldn’t pin your hopes on James.” Harry was trying to be kind. 

Teddy sighed. “I know. Descendant of so many generations…” 

“Oh, no. That’s not it.” Ginny refilled Harry’s wine glass and poured Teddy the tiniest splash, which made him feel absurdly grown up. "You’ve met James. He’s as cooperative as a garden gnome.”

"Always first to leap off the cliff at Shell Cottage,” Harry said. “Never looks. Just leaps. Scares the hell out of us.” 

Teddy sipped his wine. It tasted like burning. 

“James bounces around the world like a rubber ball.” Ginny smacked her hand on the table to illustrate. 

“But…” Teddy wanted to explain why he wanted James in Hufflepuff. It had nothing to do with the coup of having the next Potter in his house. It was something else completely. 

“He’s not interested in reading or books,” Harry said.  

“Boring,” Ginny said in spot on imitation of her oldest son’s voice. 

“Helping others?” Harry asked her. 

“Ugh. So boring I’m going to die.” Ginny slumped over her folded arms on the table so very like James that Harry grew suspicious. 

He shouted at the ceiling, “No one in this house better be brewing any Polyjuice potions!” 

There was an ominous thump and rattle overhead. Then silence. They all laughed. Teddy’s second sip of wine tasted like burning that had possibly once been grapes. The noise overhead started up again. 

Harry helped Ginny clear the table and refused Teddy’s offer to help. 

Teddy loved his grandmother, but spending time with his extended family was fun. Very loud fun. He tried not to waste lots of time wondering what his life would be like if his parents had lived. But sometimes he couldn’t help thinking about it. Harry understood. 

Harry and Ginny returned to the table with a plate of biscuits.  

“James can be protective of his friends and siblings,” Teddy said. 

“To outsiders. Among them he’s a little tyrant. Too much like his uncle.” Ginny didn’t say which one. Teddy wasn’t Gryffindor enough to ask. 

“He doesn’t have the ambition or patience for scheming.” Harry turned the stem of his wine glass in his fingers and watched its reflection move around the table cloth. 

The Hat had tried to put Harry in Slytherin and it was still a sore spot, but few people had been more vocal about better integrating the Slytherins into the rest of the student community. 

Ginny laid her hand across Harry’s. He stopped aimlessly twirling his glass and curled his fingers around his wife’s. She said, “Whatever house James ends up in, we will love and support him.”

“I think he has hidden depths,” Teddy said more stoutly than he felt. 

Just then, out of the corner of his eye–Teddy saw James outside, under a recently full moon, riding Harry’s old broom low over the grass. He was dragging Albus, who clung to the twigs. Albus was either laughing or crying. Lily ran behind them. Definitely laughing. The noises upstairs grew louder, which is when it dawned on Teddy that there shouldn’t be anyone upstairs to make noise if the children were all outside. 

Ginny followed Teddy’s line of sight and threw down her napkin. “Harry. They did it again. You deal with _it_. I will deal with _them_.” 

Ginny’s wand shot a few red sparks after she threw open the front door. 

Harry explained while they climbed the stairs. “James has been _borrowing_ the neighbor’s ghoul to make decoy noise while they sneak outside. It’s ingenuous, but eventually the ghoul might decide to stay. Ginny won’t have it.” 

Harry drew his wand and blew open the door. A small, pokey looking ghoul glared at them from a cloud of flying feathers and shredded paper.  

Harry winked at Teddy and turned to the ghoul with a glare that must strike fear into his enemies past, present, or future. The ghoul grumbled and flew out the window. 

Harry laughed and waved the mess away. Teddy understood. He hoped James would be a Hufflepuff because he wanted to share his house with family. 

 

_…and the hat shouted, “Gryffindor!”_

Teddy was disappointed, but also a little bit relieved.


End file.
